


Upgrade

by glorious_spoon



Category: Black Panther (2018), Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Banter, Canon Disabled Character, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-03
Updated: 2018-03-03
Packaged: 2019-03-26 14:35:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13859778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glorious_spoon/pseuds/glorious_spoon
Summary: Tony Stark gets taken down a peg or three and Rhodey is probably enjoying it way too much.





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**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr fic that I'm posting here for posterity.

“This is not bad,” Shuri said finally, turning the mechanism for the brace over. Rhodey watched her with a hand on his knee, trying to ignore the deadened immobility of his left leg without the exoskeleton on it; the things were heavy and awkward, but at least with them he could move. “Considering how primitive your technology is.”

“Was that a compliment?” Tony asked. “That sounded suspiciously like a compliment.”

She grinned. “Don’t let it go to your head, colonizer.”

“Too late,” Rhodey muttered. Tony gave him a look, the kind of look that would have been followed by a kick in the shin back when Tony wasn’t treating him like he was made out of glass. He was actually starting to miss Tony acting like a petulant little shit, which probably went to show that the crash landing had scrambled more than just his spinal cord.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“What, you getting schooled by a genius teenager? Why would I be enjoying that? Not like you’ve had it coming for the past, oh, thirty years.”

“I wasn’t that bad,” Tony protested.

“Yes,” Rhodey informed him. “You were. You still are.”

Shuri was watching them like they were an exotic but entertaining form of volleyball, the brace still clutched in her hand. “Okay, well, you can have this back. I’ll come up with something better.”

“What?” Tony said, sounding offended. “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” Shuri said, and placed the brace into Rhodey’s hand. “I should have it ready— oh, tomorrow? Day after at the latest. I have done prosthetics and armor before, but never a proper neural-integrated exoskeleton. This is going to be so  _interesting_.”

She smiled like sunshine at Tony’s flabbergasted face and took herself out of the room. Rhodey managed, just barely, to wait until the door shut to start laughing. Tony stared after her, mouth slightly open, then pushed his sunglasses up his nose and pointed at Rhodey. “Don’t start.”

“Your face,” Rhodey wheezed, settling the brace back into place with a comforting whirr of machinery.

“You,” Tony said, “are having way too much fun with this.”

“No, I’m pretty sure I’m having exactly the right amount of fun with this.”

“Well, I flew all the way to Wakanda to beg her to make the damn things, so I hope you appreciate it.”

“What?”

“Seriously, there were tears,” Tony said, and there was an odd tilt to his smile that made Rhodey suspect that he wasn’t actually joking. “It was awkward for everyone.”

“I bet.” Rhodey looked up at Tony’s face, considered saying something, then decided against it. “Hey, you think the new exoskeleton will fit inside the War Machine suit?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s going to redesign all of the suits by the time we’re done here,” Tony said, and offered him a hand up. “Come on, I saw like three taverns on the way in that we have to try. I bet Wakandan booze is amazing.”

“You do realize that we’re on a diplomatic mission, right?”

“I don’t see your point. Are you coming or not?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rhodey sighed. “I’m coming.”


End file.
